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Africa Subsaharan

Court orders arrest of former Liberian leader

2007-12-09

A criminal court has ordered the arrest of Liberia's ex-president Gyude Bryant on allegations that he embezzled $1,3-million while in office. Bryant, who led the nation for two years as a transitional president following the end of Liberia's 14-year civil war, stepped down in 2005 after Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won democratic presidential elections. Bryant's government was accused of mishandling the nation's finances. A Liberian court issued the arrest order on Thursday after Bryant failed to show up in court twice this week. Bryant, who had been granted bail, now should be held at Monrovia's central prison until he answers to the charge, according to the court. Late Thursday, Bryant said that he had heard about the arrest warrant but that it had not yet been served. "The processes are unjust; there are lots of injustices being done to me," he said.

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Africa: Subsaharan

Liberia Launches Presidential Campaigns

2005-08-16

Liberians paraded in the streets of their capital Monday holding giant pictures of a soccer star, a former rebel and other candidates at the official start of campaigning for their nation's first postwar presidential election. Twenty-two candidates were cleared to stand in the Oct. 11 vote citizens hope will lead the war-battered west African nation of 3 million people to long-term peace and development. I am so impressed. Only a year or two ago, Liberia was Somalia, only with more humidity. One of the candidates was African soccer legend George Weah. Another was Sekou Conneh, leader of the rebel group whose deadly mid-2003 siege of Monrovia helped drive former President Charles Taylor into exile. And Taylor's not one of the 22 running. If they're really lucky, Prince Johnson isn't, either. Here's hoping Samuel Doe isn't there in spirit. Electoral committee head Frances Johnson-Morris shook off concerns there were too many in the race. "There are so many people who had wanted to participate in our past electoral processes and maybe they did not get the chance," she told reporters. "This is a time that everyone has the opportunity." Also in the race is Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, who lost a 1997 vote to Taylor, a former warlord who launched Liberia into crisis with his 1989-1996 insurgency. Rebels took up arms against Taylor in 2000. The new president is expected to take office in January 2006. The article doesn't say anything about Gyude Bryant or Moses Blah running, either. Once an economic model for West Africa, over a decade of strife has left Liberia in ruins, its people among the world's most impoverished. Some 500,000 people who fled their homes during the war have remained in camps despite the August 2003 peace deal that ended the latest fighting. Some 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers are overseeing the peace process and helping provide security in the country as a postwar, temporary administration arranges the vote. I guess there's always hope. I wish them all the luck in the world. Next time somebody tells you that violence never solves anything, tell 'em about Chuck.

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Africa: Subsaharan

Liberia ritual killings warning

2005-06-29

EFL:The leader of Liberia's transitional government, Gyude Bryant, has promised to use the death penalty against anyone found guilty of sacrificial killings. During an address on state radio Mr Bryant said people were killing in the belief it would make them successful, rich, or the next president. A BBC correspondent in Liberia says the number of ritual murders are growing. Sacrifices have been reported in three of Liberia's counties - the latest involving beheading and organ removal. "We'll find you, we'll arrest you, we'll prosecute you and let me say again to everybody, if the judge passes down a ruling to say you must die by hanging, I will hang you," Mr Bryant said. "I will sign the death warrant without batting my eye." I think that's pretty clear. You could run for governer of Texas on that platform Elections for the first president since Charles Taylor left the country are due in October, which, our correspondent says, is the likely reason for the increased number of ritual killings. Human parts such as genital organs are believed to offer supernatural powers, especially by aspiring politicians and so the number of alleged ritual killing rises in the run-up to elections. It would add some spice to the New Hampshire primaries. I hear Hillary has several democrat's balls in a jar on her desk "If you killed because you want to make a sacrifice to be president or senator, you fool yourself," Mr Bryant said. "Stop ritualistic killings, it will not pay you anything, it will not make you rich, it will not give you jobs." In January extra United Nations peacekeepers had to be sent to south-eastern Liberia following violent protests over alleged ritual killings.

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Africa: Subsaharan

Monrovia back under curfew after day of Liberia security talks

2004-10-31

MONROVIA : The Liberian capital was again under curfew afternoon for the second day after riots that left five dead, sparked by what many believe are a reprise of ethnic tensions in the war-weary west African state. The riots also renewed concerns about the volume of weapons still in the hands of former fighters just days before a massive UN campaign to disarm Liberia's three warring factions is to wrap up its voluntary phase. Though some 90,000 ex-combattants enrolled in the program ending Sunday, only 26,000 weapons were turned in. Seems like a few girlie-boys forgot to turn in their rifles. Government chairman Gyude Bryant, in lifting the curfew imposed Friday at 1400 GMT, blamed the two days of street violence, looting and destruction of property on hooligans. "Investigations carried out up to now show that there were no Muslims or Christians burning churches or mosques but hooligans perpetrating those acts," Bryant said. "Those perpetrators will be identified and arrested." I think the translation of that is that Chuck's boyz are trying to set the two sides at each other's throats. Rioting had started late Thursday in the densely populated Paynesville district, punctuated by automatic gunfire as it spread through Monrovia on Friday. Churches, mosques and religious schools were set ablaze by rioters who also upended and torched cars. Looting was rampant. Two prominent Mandingo members of Bryant's transitional government had their houses destroyed in Paynesville in what many fear could be a new flashpoint for conflict pitting the Muslim ethnic group against other, Christian tribes. Mandingos make up the majority of the main rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), which took arms against Charles Taylor in 1999, two years after he claimed the presidency following his own seven-year rebellion.

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Africa: Subsaharan

Curfew Ordered in Troubled Liberia

2004-10-29

Mobs brandishing machetes, sticks and Kalashnikov rifles rampaged through Liberia's war-shattered capital Friday, prompting the country's leader to order an immediate daylight curfew to stem the rare Muslim-Christian violence. Oh swell, just what we need, another Muslim-Christian war. At least three churches and two mosques in the eastern suburb of Paynesville were set ablaze after midnight, and several wounded lay in the streets, an Associated Press photographer on the scene said. One man, stabbed in the head with a knife, could be seen on a main road in a pool of blood, apparently unconscious. Plumes of black smoke rose from Paynesville, where U.N. peacekeepers in armored personal carriers fired in the air to try to maintain order. U.N. choppers rumbled overhead. Another fine example of your UN at work. It was not clear what sparked the violence. Hummm, let me think... "The curfew starts now," interim head of state Gyude Bryant said in a statement broadcast over the private radio station DC101 FM. "The United Nations mission has been instructed to use every force to put the situation under control." They're doomed! Residents said troubles began early Thursday in Paynesville and spread west to an Atlantic Ocean port. Sporadic gunshots echoed through Paynesville, where several homes were also burned. Some residents said five people had been killed in the violence. The claims could not be independently verified, however, and government officials could not be reached for comment. Violence had also reportedly spread to Kakata, 35 miles north of the capital, where two mosques were destroyed, a local journalist who visited the site said on condition of anonymity. He said mobs attempted to destroy a third mosque but were stopped by peacekeeping troops deployed in the town. The U.N. police commander in Liberia, Mark Kroeker, said several houses had been destroyed in the violence and "numerous" people were injured. Many people had to be rescued from mobs during the night, he said on a U.N. radio station. He did not mention the burning of any churches or mosques. Religious leaders took to the airwaves to appeal for calm. About 40 percent of Liberia's 3.3 million people are Christians. About 20 percent are Muslim, and the rest follow indigenous beliefs. I'll wager the Muslims are feeling oppressed, that usually happens when they are outnumbered. Liberia is struggling to recover from an era of fighting that began in 1989 and claimed at least 150,000 lives. A three-year rebel war ended last year. With insurgents shelling the capital, President Charles Taylor agreed to go into exile in Nigeria, clearing the way for a transitional government that gave top rebel officials ministerial posts. And Chucky has been making trouble from Nigeria ever since. Wonder if he's converted to Islam? A 15,000-strong U.N. peace force is now stationed in the West African nation to provide security. The new government is to hold elections in October 2005. I won't hold my breath.

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Africa: Subsaharan

U.N. Decides Something! to Maintain Liberia Sanctions

2004-06-11

The U.N. Security Council decided Thursday that peace in Liberia was still too fragile to lift sanctions but acknowledged progress by the West African country toward meeting conditions to end timber and diamond embargoes. They did, however, comtemplate establishing a "Diamonds for Food" program. The French were enthusiastic in support. Liberia's interim leader, Gyude Bryant, had appealed to the council last week to lift the sanctions, saying his government desperately needed revenues from these major exports to maintain stability. The council noted that no major violations of the arms embargo and diamond and timber sanctions had been reported since former warlord and president Charles Taylor fled into exile in August 2003.

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Africa: Subsaharan

Liberia: Member of Top US Military Delegation Murdered

2004-05-26

A member of the United States Government 34-man military delegation in Liberia to help set up a new national army, has been murdered at the Mamba Point Hotel in the diplomatic enclave of the Liberian capital, Monrovia. Liberia's defence ministry spokesman Moizou Kromah told reporters on Tuesday that the incident occurred during the early hours of Monday morning in a room at the Mamba Point Hotel where the deceased and the rest of the US delegation were lodging. No official motive has been given by authorities. What's the unofficial motive? Was he rolled The identity of the murdered man has not been established, but the Liberian government has confirmed that the man was a civilian member of the US team. "We have learnt that the individual murdered in cold blood was one of the four civilians on the delegation...the identity of the deceased will be withheld pending the conclusion of an investigation," Kromah disclosed. He said the team, which arrived in Monrovia on 19 May, composed of 30 senior military officers of US Military Command and four civilians, was on an assessment mission to assist in the creation of a new Liberian army following 14 years of bloody civil war, brought to an end in August. Sources close to the Liberian state security told IRIN on Tuesday that the deceased was stabbed to death in his hotel room by an unknown murderer or murderers who entered via a ceiling cavity shared with an adjoining room. Cash and other valuables were missing from the room, they said. Sounds like a robbery gone bad. "Because of the embarrassing nature of such a murder of a US citizen in Liberia, the transitional government chairman Gyude Bryant has ordered all of the state security including the police, national bureau of investigation, national security agency [Liberia's intelligence bureau] to investigate the killing and arrest the culprits," one of the sources said. Expatriates and western visitors lodge at the Mamba Point Hotel, because of its proximity to the US and European Union embassies as well as the offices of various UN agencies. Plain cloths Liberian security officers have tightened security at the hotel, replacing the private security agents who operated before the murder to clients' satisfaction. Guess the client's are not too satisfied now Frequent visitors to the Mamba Point Hotel, which operated throughout the Liberian civil war, chose the hotel as it usually had electricity and water, a luxury in Monrovia and was located near the sea - an emergency exit in case of troubles. VIP customers = prime targets for robbers, or possible terrorists.

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Africa: Subsaharan

LIBERIA: UN confirms disarmament will restart on 15 April

2004-04-13

The United Nations has confirmed that the delayed disarmament programme in Liberia will restart on Thursday after a four-month delay. Doesn't that mean the bad guys have been running around waving shootin' irons for the past four months? Jacques Klein, the head of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), made the announcement on Saturday at a joint press conference with Gyude Bryant, the Chairman of Liberia’s transitional government, in the capital Monrovia. Earlier this month, Bryant had set 15 April as the target date for restarting a disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) programme for an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 former combatants in Liberia’s civil war. However, until Saturday’s announcement by Klein, UNMIL had declined to confirm the date. "We were still processing the paperwork..." One reason for this is the fact that the three armed factions in Liberia have still not fulfilled one of the pre-conditions set by UNMIL for resuming the disarmament process. They have not yet provided a full list of their combatants, the locations where they are based and the weapons in their possession. The UN assumes the bad guys have this information? Klein referred to this on Saturday. According to a press statement issued by UNMIL he “urged the factions to submit comprehensive lists of their combatants locations and weapons,” saying these were “vital to support implementation of the programme.” General Daniel Opande, the commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia, said earlier in the week that the other pre-conditions for starting disarmament had all been met. The Kenyan general said UNMIL now had adequate troops on the ground to ensure security and they had been deployed throughout the country. Opande said UNMIL had nearly 14,000 troops in Liberia and these had established positions in 13 of the country’s 15 counties. He also noted that a campaign to make former combatants aware of how the DDRR programme would work had been conducted satisfactorily and that the four cantonment sites where the fighters will hand in their weapons and undergo a two to three-week screening exercise had been completed. Oh, an Outreach™ program. How sweet. Bryant said on Saturday that the DDRR programme would start on Thursday at Gbargna, a former stronghold of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement, 150 km northeast of Monrovia, and would be extended gradually to the three other centres. The second cantonment site would open at Buchanan, a port city formerly held by the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) rebel group, on 20 April, while the third would open at Tubmanburg, a LURD military base 60 km north of Monrovia, on 25 April, he added. Bryant said the fourth and final cantonment site would open at VOA on the outskirts of the capital on 30 April. This site is aimed mainly at disarming fighters loyal to former president Charles Taylor. UNMIL made a first attempt to start disarmament on 7 December, when it had only 5,000 troops on the ground and only one cantonment site in operation on the outskirts of Monrovia. However the exercise was ill-prepared and led to bloodshed and confusion. It was suspended after just 10 days. Most things in Liberia seem to lead to bloodshed and confusion, to include breakfast... At least nine people were killed as pro-Taylor gunmen rioted in Monrovia demanding cash for handing in their weapons. UNMIL eventually agreed to pay each former combatant US$75 in cash as he handed in his gun, but then found itself overwhelmed by fighters clamouring for the bounty. This payment was presented at the time as the first tranche of a $300 resettlement allowance. UNMIL was therefore determined to be fully prepared before it attempted to re-launch the disarmament exercise. Bryant said on Saturday that this was why it had taken four months to resume the DDRR programme. “We had some hurdles, it took some time, but that was to ensure that when we begin this time, we don’t run into the kinds of problems we ran into when we began on 7 December,” he said. UN officials in Liberia have made clear that UNMIL will not pay former combatants any money as they hand in their weapons this time round. Do they have to turn in their bustiers, too?

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Africa: West

Family feud rocks Liberia rebels

2004-01-20

The wife of the leader of Liberia’s main rebels says she has replaced him. Aisha Conneh said that she, unlike her husband, would work with Liberia’s interim leader Gyude Bryant to achieve peace and disarm rebel fighters. However, a rebel spokesman said that Mr Sekou Conneh was still in charge of the Lurd movement. "Don’t listen to that woman! He’s still in charge, really!" Speaking at her residence in Monrovia, Mrs Conneh, who calls herself the "Iron Lady", said she was the "boss lady" of Lurd, so Mr Conneh should do what she said. Don’t mess with Mom. Especially when she’s got her own army. She said she had funded the movement and installed her husband as its leader. "It’s my money, dammit. He kept lying around the hut, drinking beer and watching tv, so I gave him the job to earn his keep." Last week some 30 Lurd commanders said they had replaced Mr Conneh as their leader. "It was in the pre-nup, she gets the group" "I’m ready to work with Gyude Bryant because I want peace in Liberia," she said, accusing her husband of not wanting peace. The BBC’s Jonathan Paye-Layleh says Mr and Mrs Conneh have an on-off relationship but have a baby girl together. Guess that happened during the "on" part. Mrs Conneh, who is still breast-feeding, says she is the adopted daughter of Guinea’s President Lansana Conte. Oh, great. Now I have this mental picture of her addressing the troops with the baby sucking away. Guinea was accused of backing Lurd in their long struggle against Mr Taylor. Shipment of AK’s was the wedding gift from Dad. Mr Bryant was chosen at peace talks to head a power-sharing government of rebel group, members of Mr Taylor’s former administration and civilian political parties. He was Chucky’s pick. "Believe me, if I tell the children (fighters) to bring their arms, they will bring all and I will turn them in. Anyone who will not turn in guns will be turned over to the UN to be dealt with," Mrs Conneh said. She might be able to do it. Nobody sez no to Mom

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Africa: West

Nigeria Will Surrender Taylor for Trial

2003-11-25

Nigeria will surrender ousted Liberian leader Charles Taylor to face a war crimes trial if Liberia asks, President Olusegun Obasanjo said Tuesday. Obasanjo’s comments marked the first time he has publicly shown willingness to yield Taylor for trial. The Nigerian president has strongly resisted U.S. congressional pressure to turn Taylor over to face a war crimes indictment by a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone. Liberia has not yet pressed for Taylor’s return. And they most likely won’t. Liberia’s interim leader, Gyude Bryant, appointed under an Aug. 18 peace deal, has said he fears war-crimes trials would harm reconciliation in his war-battered country. If Gyude, Chuck’s buddy, doesn’t win the promised election, the new government may want Chuck’s head on a platter. Liberia’s Taylor has lived in exile in southern Nigeria since he fled Monrovia in early August, with rebels besieging the capital and international officials pressing him to go to allow a peace deal to be reached. Taylor is also blamed in much of the bloodshed in West Africa in recent years, and the U.N. indictment accuses him of backing rebels in a vicious 10-year terror campaign in neighboring Sierra Leone. A lot of people would pay to see Chuck go to the wall. If Liberia’s new interim government decides it wants him to face charges there, "then I believe he will understand sufficiently the need to go home," Obasanjo said, speaking in an interview at his farm north of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. Asked what he would do if Taylor resisted, Obasanjo responded, "I would persuade him." That’s Chuck’s two-minute warning.

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Africa: East

Liberia’s Interim Leader Apologies for Sierra Leone War

2003-11-06

The head of Liberia’s interim government apologized Thursday for his country’s role in fueling a 10-year war in Sierra Leone - a gesture toward mending relations after the exile of indicted war criminal and ex-President Charles Taylor. "Not all of us endorse what has happened, and we deeply regret what happened," Gyude Bryant said after meeting with Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. "It was Chuck’s idea, I had nothing to do with it!" "I beg you to forgive us, put away the bitterness of the past and let us live and work together to move our countries forward." "I’m trying to steal, er, run a country here" Taylor, who resigned in August besieged by rebels and under international pressure, faces war crimes charges for being a major supporter of Sierra Leone’s brutal insurgency. Exiled this year after a peace deal ended a civil war in Liberia, Taylor now lives in Nigeria. It is considered unlikely that he would appear before the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, though he has sent lawyers to argue on his behalf.

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Africa: West

Liberian Leader Wants Taylor on Trial, Maybe

2003-10-27

Former President Charles Taylor should stand trial at the U.N.-backed Sierra Leone court accusing him of war crimes, Liberia’s new leader said Monday. Well, that’s not exactly what he said, but continue. Gyude Bryant, who heads a newly installed power-sharing government, said the ex-warlord should leave his exile in Nigeria and face the court, which indicted Taylor for supporting a brutal Sierra Leonean rebel movement during that country’s 1991-2002 civil war. Now for the quote. "I think Taylor should go to the court in Sierra Leone and face the tribunal and exonerate himself from the charges made against him," Bryant said. "It’s only honorable that Taylor do that." See, Gyude said that Chucky should go on his own to face the court and show that the allegations are false. This way he looks good to the press without worrying about it really happening. If he was serious, he’d have asked Nigeria to extradite Chuck. Taylor is fighting the indictment issued by the U.N.-Sierra Leone court in June. Taylor took up refuge in Nigeria Aug. 11, with Liberian rebels besieging the capital and international leaders clamoring for his departure. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo says he offered Taylor asylum in the interest of regional peace and will not hand him over to the court. Taylor’s lawyers are due to argue his appeal in hearings in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, on Friday. His lawyers say the indictment against him is invalid because Taylor was head of state at the time of his alleged crimes and therefore immune. That defense didn’t work for Germans or Japanese after WW2. After Taylor left Liberia, insurgents lifted their siege of Monrovia and signed a peace accord a week later setting up a transitional government, meant to arrange democratic elections in late 2005. The warring parties chose Bryant, a Monrovia businessman, to head the interim government on Oct. 14. In a statement that day from exile, Taylor congratulated Bryant and said he supported his fledgling administration. Uh huh.

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